Last night I went out to a family dinner with relatives on my dad's side. Each time I go out with them I appreciate them even more. Last night, the dinner was in partial celebration of my genius Uncle Ben, who just last year got diagnosed with an ill fated leukemia :(. He cannot hug or shake hands with us, because he has to maintain distance from our germs because his immune system is weakened so much. Thus, I explained to him and my 60+ uncles/father what a "fist bump" was. Despite the odds, he still puts on the same jolly old Uncle Ben smile ^.^
Anyway, after dinner my cousin Helen gave me a ride back home to tino. Some background information about Helen: she graduated from my high school in 2001, went to NYU, became and investment banker in NY, got married to another investment banker last year, then started a 2 year MBA program at Harvard last fall. She's a self-described successful workaholic, but humble and friendly as heck. During our drive back home, Helen asked me where I would like to be next year. I told here I would prefer to stay either in Cali or the east coast, to which she expressed her utmost support of the latter.
"Angela, I've been out of California for a decade and I wouldn't trade the growing up I've done in these past ten years for anything"
She went on talk about the value of meeting people from different states, countries, and races and pretty much hit the nail on the head when she said that the Bay Area, as great as it may be, is SO small. There is so much more to learn and grow from meeting people from different backgrounds, social/economic statuses, and ethnicities.
And it's so true. My sphere of close friends consist of people who are from my high school district. Coming to Berkeley, I branched out to people to roomates and new friends from Alameda/San Leandro area. This is 40 miles from my house. Of my closest friends that I can count on my hands, I have 0 that are not Asian or from the bay area.
And then I think about those friends, and realize that all of their spheres seem to be equally small. If I could blanket statement this, I would have to say less than half of my friends have developed close relationships with people the didn't know in high school.
NOT TO SAY I don't appreciate the majority of my friends who are from my backyard, nor do I look down on people who follow suit. But... to put it most simply- my cousin tells me that there is an obvious difference in the way that her lifelong Cali friends think compared to the way she now thinks.
Having this small world view makes me itch to get out of here and end up somewhere really really far .
